Unhappy Birthday

The world's most durable dictator turned 72 last week. It was surely the unhappiest birthday for AntOnio de Oliveira Salazar in the 29 years of his one-man rule of Portugal. He confronted growing unrest at home, bloody rebellion in his big African colony of Angola, found few sympathetic world allies anywhere except in South Africa. But in his first interview in five years (to Brazil's 0 Cruzeiro Correspondent Mario de Moraes) the old autocrat was as acid and abrasive as ever.

The U.S. vote in the U.N. against Portugal on the Angola problem plainly rankled. "The Western bloc is being badly led by its natural leader, the U.S.," 1-said. "Whenever a country runs into trouble and most needs help from the Americans, they leave it to its fate ... On the other hand, the Russians are always ready to take action." Then he added: "The Americans go around preaching liberty for all the people of the world. But in every country where they implant liberty, they also implant Communism."

Salazar has no illusions about his task in Angola: "It is not going to be easy to normalize the situation. We will have to spend a great deal of money on armaments and troops. But even if we manage to put down the rebellion, we still face an even more difficult and serious problem: to make the colored element return to work once again in peace with the white element. The work of a century, overturned in a month ..."

For himself Salazar disclaimed any color prejudice: "I have many Negro friends," he said. "Both the doctor who handles my lab exams and my X-ray diagnostician are colored." On the other hand, he added, "No one is more racist than the Negro toward the white man."

Huddled in his leather armchair, his feet neatly encased in old-fashioned high boots, Portugal's fading dictator suddenly seemed very weary. "Maybe," said Salazar, "I have lived beyond my time."

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